By: Joey Raymond 

Headline Photo Credit: Darrell Owens-LMS Network

There wasn’t much pretty about Saturday afternoon in Chestnut Hill.

The rain was coming down. The wind was whipping around Alumni Stadium. The field was a mess, the passing game was a mess, and for a good portion of the afternoon, it looked like Virginia Tech was going to let a game slip away that it definitely should have controlled. Then Jeffrey Overton Jr. took over.

Virginia Tech came into Boston College at 3-0 and riding plenty of momentum after a convincing win over Maryland the week before. This was supposed to be the next step for James Franklin’s team — its first ACC game, its first true road test of the season, and another opportunity to show that the early-season success was real.

Instead, the Hokies found themselves in a fight. They trailed 14-6 early in the fourth quarter before finally putting together the kind of response this team hadn’t really been forced to make yet. Virginia Tech scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, rallied for a 21-14 win, and walked out of Chestnut Hill 4-0 for the first time since 2017.

It wasn’t pretty and that’s exactly why this one matters.

This Was a Miserable Football Game

From the opening kickoff, it was obvious that the weather was going to have an impact. The wind was brutal, with gusts reaching roughly 40 mph, and the rain never really let up. Neither offense could get much going through the air, and this quickly became one of those games where every yard felt like it took twice as much work.

Virginia Tech didn’t score until there were only 16 seconds left in the first half and even then, it wasn’t a touchdown. John Love drilled a 45-yard field goal to give the Hokies a 3-0 lead after a 13-play, 48-yard drive. The weather was so bad you couldn’t even see the kick on TV because the camera was covered in water. 

That drive felt important at the time simply because somebody had finally managed to put points on the board. It also ended up being a preview of the kind of game this was going to be. Virginia Tech’s offense, which had looked so explosive through the first three weeks, simply didn’t look like itself.

Ethan Grunkemeyer had thrown for 314 yards and three touchdowns against Maryland, against Boston College, he finished 22-of-35 for 147 yards. There wasn’t a single completion longer than 16 yards.

Some of that was obviously the weather. It would be unfair to look at this game as if Virginia Tech was playing in normal conditions. The wind was making throwing the football difficult for both teams, but at the same time, the offense just never really found a rhythm.

For most of the afternoon, it felt like Virginia Tech was trying to survive rather than dictate the game.

And Then There Was Mason McKenzie

If there was one thing that became increasingly frustrating for Virginia Tech’s defense, it was Boston College quarterback Mason McKenzie’s legs. This is becoming a thing worth watching with this team. Every time Virginia Tech sees a quarterback who can legitimately hurt it with his legs, the defense seems to have trouble keeping that player contained. McKenzie was the latest example.

The Boston College quarterback finished with 138 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. He also completed 11 of 23 passes for 111 yards. In other words, he accounted for 249 of Boston College’s 261 total yards. That is basically the entire offense. And it wasn’t just the overall numbers. It was when he made those plays.

Boston College finally broke through early in the third quarter when McKenzie ripped off a 45-yard run to put the Eagles inside the Virginia Tech 10. He finished the drive himself with a five-yard touchdown run, putting Boston College ahead 7-6.

Then, after Virginia Tech’s offense gave the Eagles another opportunity, McKenzie put together another scoring drive in the fourth quarter. A 20-yard completion to Dawson Pough put Boston College inside the red zone, and McKenzie finished the drive with a two-yard keeper. Suddenly, the Hokies were staring at a 14-6 deficit.

For the first time this season, there was a real question of whether they were going to be able to answer it.

Virginia Tech Finally Answered

This is where the game changed. Virginia Tech got the ball back and finally put together the kind of drive it had been missing all afternoon. Ten plays. Eighty yards. And, most importantly, a touchdown. Grunkemeyer found Marlion Jackson for a 14-yard touchdown with 8:05 left in the game. Jackson made a big-time play in difficult conditions, and suddenly Virginia Tech had life.

Franklin and the Hokies decided to go for two. They needed to get back within a field goal, but they also had an opportunity to tie the game right there. The ball went to Overton. He got into the end zone. 14-14.

Suddenly, a game that had looked like it was slipping away was completely different. The momentum was on the Hokies’ sideline for essentially the first time in this game. That’s the part of this game that stands out to me.

We’ve talked about Virginia Tech’s offense being explosive. We’ve talked about what this team can do when it gets rolling. But we hadn’t really seen what happened when things weren’t going its way.

This time, the Hokies didn’t panic. Last year they would have, this year? They answered. Then they got the biggest play of the afternoon.

Jeffrey Overton Jr. Took Over

On the very first play of Virginia Tech’s next possession, Overton got the ball. He found the edge. Then he was gone. Seventy-six yards. Touchdown. Virginia Tech 21, Boston College 14. Just like that.

A game that had been completely stuck in the mud for three-plus quarters suddenly had a game-changing play. Overton finished with 209 yards on 25 carries, and the timing of those yards is what makes the performance so impressive.

Through three quarters, he had 69 rushing yards. In the fourth quarter, he ran nine times for 140 yards. Candidly, that’s not having a good game, that’s having a fantastic fourth quarter. That’s taking over when your team needs you most. Virginia Tech kept giving him the ball after that.

Boston College got one more possession, but the defense forced the Eagles to punt, and the Hokies were able to run out the clock. 

The Defense Wasn’t Perfect — But It Made Plays

It’s easy to look at this game and focus on the 138 rushing yards McKenzie put up. Honestly, there were plenty of moments where Virginia Tech had no answer for him, but the defense also made some really important plays.

The Hokies finished with eight tackles for loss and three sacks, including two from Cortez Harris. One of Harris’ sacks came at a huge moment after Boston College took over following a Virginia Tech fumble. Instead of allowing the Eagles to turn that short field into more points, Virginia Tech’s defense pushed Boston College backward and forced a punt.

The Eagles ultimately finished just 2-for-13 on third down. That’s a pretty important number when you’re talking about a game decided by seven points. The defense didn’t shut Boston College down. Honestly, they got nowhere close to a shutdown performance. Luckily enough for the Hokies though, the defense didn’t have to. It just needed to make enough plays to give the offense another chance.

Eventually, the offense finally took advantage of it. We still have yet to see a full 4 quarters of complete football but 4-0 still matters. 

The Ugly Part Still Matters

There are absolutely things Virginia Tech needs to clean up. The offense can’t expect to play like this every week and continue winning.

The Hokies went 0-for-2 on fourth down, including a fourth-and-1 in Boston College territory. Marcellous Hawkins Jr., who had been such an important part of the offense through the first three games, had just 19 rushing yards on 10 carries and lost a fumble that gave Boston College the ball at the Virginia Tech 22.

The passing game was inconsistent. The short-yardage situations weren’t great. The defense has to figure out how to contain quarterbacks who can run the football. Those problems aren’t going away just because Virginia Tech won.

Honestly though, that’s also why this win feels different from the first three. Virginia Tech definitely didn’t overwhelm Boston College. It didn’t cruise. It didn’t spend the entire afternoon in control.

They had to come from behind. They had to deal with terrible weather. They had to overcome an offense that wasn’t playing particularly well. And eventually, they had to make plays. And thankfully for Hokies fans that’s exactly what they did.

This Is the One We’ll Learn From

There are wins that look great on the schedule and wins that actually tell you something about a football team. I’m 1,000% sure this was Virginia Tech’s prettiest win. It certainly wasn’t its most impressive from an offensive standpoint.

However, I think this might end up being one of the more important games of the season, because now we know this team can close. Virginia Tech had never really been put in this position through the first three weeks. The Maryland game was competitive, but the Hokies still finished that one with a two-score victory.

This time, they were down eight points in the fourth quarter on the road. Instead of watching the game get away, they responded with 15 unanswered points. Grunkemeyer made the throw when Virginia Tech needed one. Marlion Jackson made the catch. Overton made the play. And the defense got the final stop.

Sometimes, that’s football. It isn’t always going to look good, and sometimes it’s going to be rainy, windy, and downright ugly. Sometimes your quarterback is going to throw for 147 yards instead of 314. Sometimes the other team’s quarterback is going to run all over you. Sometimes your offense is going to look completely out of sync.

But if you can still find a way to win those games? That’s when you start learning something about a football team. Virginia Tech is 4-0. It is 1-0 in ACC play. For the first time this season, the Hokies had to stare down a game that wasn’t going their way. They found a way out.

Now comes the really interesting part. Can they do it again when the games get even harder? Because Friday night, Pitt comes to Lane Stadium. After escaping Boston College, Virginia Tech gets its next chance to prove that it can do more than just win when things are going its way.